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Colorful Creatures

A few hours each week Emily Reid teaches art to kids in Reno. She lives on a tiny 2-acre farm in Reno off the Mount Rose Highway with a collection of about 30 castaway animals that inspire much of her artwork. They have badass names bestowed upon them by her human child, like Butterfly Sparkle, Midnight Dragon, and David.

Reid studied art in Florence, S.C., Bozeman, Mont., and Sydney, Australia, but hasn’t always been a professional artist — she opened and sold a restaurant (Chocolate Bar) in Reno and owned a clothing boutique for six years. It took her a while to get where she is now.

Recently, Reid licensed some original art to West Elm. The furniture store commissioned her to paint four pieces that will be printed on wood and available as part of their 2018 collection in stores and online. You can also check out her work at Coffeebar in Truckee through Oct. 20. She is immensely excited to expand her audience to a national and even international level.

Reid jokes that her artwork doesn’t have a super-deep meaning or depict anything that the highbrow art world might talk about — she thinks it just kinda feels good. She couples her strong sense of color with her connection to animals and our natural world when creating her pieces.
If you want to learn more, check out emilyreidart.com